An Angry Speedster is a Scary Speedster
by Splazin101
Summary: Wally lets loose a little bit, spars with Artemis. Spitfire at the end. I appreciate reviews.


**A/N: This is my first story, please review it; be as harsh as you like.**

Right hook. Left hook. Right kick. Right kick. Left kick. Right kick. Right hook to the solar plexus. Left hook to the left knee. Uppercut. To summarize, this is my, or Wally West's, thought process. Odd, I know, but I'm in the middle of beating the snot out of some of everyone's favorite assassins, the Shadows. Oh, here comes one now. I block his kali stick aimed at my temple with my forearm, return with a super speed left hook to the nose, knee to the stomach, then kick to the chest. A fairly smooth process, if I do say so myself. I look over at my teammate, Robin, and see him sweep the feet out of three Shadows, then turn and give me a thumbs up. I hear footsteps behind me, and spin on the balls of my feet, dropping into a fighting stance. Another Shadow, a rather big one, is right on top of me; thanks to my quick reflexes, he looks like he's running through water at me. I sweep his legs with one foot, and positioning my elbow to connect with his head on his way down. Time, as perceived by me, returns to normal, and he hits the ground unconscious.

"KF, dodge!" Rob yells at me.

I, far too confused as to what he's referring to, turn around and get a kali stick to the face. I hit the ground, dazed as to what happens; it doesn't last. My mind wraps around what happens rather slowly, for a speedster's standards. For everyone else, it's in a flash. I pop back onto my feet, anger pulsing through me at myself for not reacting fast enough. The Shadow brings his kali stick above his head to hit me, and I stand there as he starts to bring it down. I grab his wrist on its way down, slam it to the ground, and kneeing him in the head on his way down. I grab him under the armpit, run up the wall right next to him, and drop him while on my way across the ceiling. As he starts to drop, I push off the ceiling, slamming my body weight into his center of mass, and smash him into the ground, leaving cracks. Shaking with rage, I climb off, and raise my fist, about to give him the beating of his life, when Rob grabs my wrist. When I turn to look at him, he's shaking his head.

"C'mon KF, you're better than this."

"Huh, if you say so. C'mon, we're done here, let's go back to the cave." I responded with a sigh, still slightly seething with anger. I tried my best to hide it, but Rob could see right through me.

"KF, are you okay? You seem a bit… tense. Angry, even."

"Rob, just… Don't worry about it." I said, looking away. I walked out of the building and to the nearby Zeta Tube.

"KF. Seriously. Talk to me." Rob put his hand on my shoulder and spun me around. I felt red hot anger flow through my body, and I saw that Rob could see it in my eyes.

"I told you, Rob. Don't worry about it, just leave it alone. I'm sorry, but just don't." I responded, taking his hand off my shoulder. We walked back to the Zeta Tube in an awkward silence, while my anger slowly dropped, but not completely. When we returned to the Cave, Kaldur, Artemis, Conner, and M'gann were waiting for us expectantly.

"Did you capture him?" Kaldur asked. Rob and I both looked down and shook our heads dejectedly.

"Oh wow, big surprise! Kid Mouth can't do anything right!" Artemis exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and shaking her head. I shot swords at her with my eyes, and her grey eyes returned them. We proceeded to have a staring contest until I looked down again and walked slowly out of the room towards the training area. After a long walk with my thoughts, walked into the training room, and pulled the top of my uniform off, balled it up, and threw it at the wall. I grabbed some boxing tape, wrapped my hands, took off my boots, and walked up to the duffle back near the back of the room. Stepping onto the mat, let my anger start to flow through my body. I dropped into a fighting stance, and let my body move naturally as I punched, kicked, elbowed, kneed, and head butted the stuffing out of this specific bag. Time seemed to slow down as I delivered combination after combination of brutal beat downs, eventually knocking the bag off of its chain. As I went to hang a new one up, a certain blond archer said something to me.

"Wow, Kid Idiot. I didn't know you could fight beyond basic fist fighting; that looked almost graceful." I turned around after I hung the bag up, and put my hands behind my head.

"What do you want, Arty?" I asked bluntly, staring her down.

"What, I can't come watch you train?" She asked innocently.

"No." I said, turning around and began whaling on the bag, faster and faster. With an audience, especially this one, I became fired up, even more so than I was before. My punches flew faster and harder, my kicks more precise, my reflexes even more honed. After a few minutes, I became fed up with Artemis' apparent gawking and punched the bag so much, so hard that I snapped the chain and the bag flew five feet and landed with a thud. I spun on her, rage obvious on my face. I chuckled when I saw the look of shock and awe on her face, her eyes flitting between me and the bag.

"What. Do. You. Want." I managed to get out, gritting my teeth.

"Kid Mouth, I already said. I wanted to watch you train." She responded, regaining her composure.

"Oh really?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "Because last time I checked, your favorite hobby was giving me shit, not fucking watching me train. So, I will ask one more time. What the hell do you want?"

"Maybe I did want to give you shit! Is that what you want?!" She asked, anger in her growing as well as my own.

"You, me. Spar. Now." Was all I said. I walked over to the ring, and jumped in, beckoning for her to join me. I looked over to see her stripping off her over-shirt down to her undershirt tanktop, and wrap her hands like mine. She hops into the ring with me, and slips into her normal fighting stance, giving me a 'come hither' look and beckons with her hand. I slip into my own stance, and squat on one leg, and sweep under her feet with my other leg. She hops, then tries to bring her knee to my face; I take both hands and push her knee back while using her own energy to propel myself into the air and knee her under the chin. I land crouching, on the defensive. She recovers, and squints at me.

"What happened, Wally? Finally learn how to fight?" She snarks at me, slyly grinning.

"No, Arty. I stopped holding back. Are we fighting or are we talking? Make up your mind." I shot back, not returning the smile. She responded with a roundhouse kick aimed at my head; I knocked it back with my forearm and jumped in the air, delivering four quick kicks to her chest and stomach before landing. I watched amused as she fell back and hit the edge of the ring, supporting her. She shook her head, and pushed off the ropes on the edge of the ring, back into a fighting stance.

"Man, you just keep coming back for more." I said with a small smile.

"Can it, Baywatch." She growled at me, throwing a right hook immediately after. Time slowed down, and I batted it away like it was a snail. She threw everything she had at me, and I either dodged or blocked it all; I was on top of the world. I threw a few of my own punches, knocking her around a bit. Eventually, the famous, stubborn Artemis gave up. She put her hands on her knees and bent over, catching her breath.

"Sorry." I said, putting my hand on her back.

"It's… ugh, it's okay." She replied, standing back up. "I just never knew you could fight like that. All those times in the ring, at the training sessions, against the rest of the team, no offense, but everyone kicked the snot out of you. What changed?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I told you, Arty. I stopped holding back. What you all don't understand is that as a speedster, a lot of responsibility falls on my shoulders. The thrashing I gave you? I was holding back because you're my… teammate." I said, avoiding the word 'friend', as I didn't know if it applied to us yet. "Imagine me, angry, against someone like Sportsmaster. Trained assassin or not, I can run laps around him regularly. He's smart, he's fast, but I'm a speedster. It doesn't automatically grant me power over people, but I can throw a few dozen punches in the time it takes you to react to what's happening. Just think about what I can do, what I'm capable of. Why do you think all speedsters are alike? Good natured, humorous? It's to cover up the weight we have on our shoulders, our powers. Super strength like Connor's is good, don't get me wrong, but it will get you nowhere against someone as fast as me. The only reason I'm not holding back is because I'm angry."

"Aw, do little Wally's feelings bruise easily?" She asked, a smirk plastered to her face.

"Artemis, I'm not fucking around. Piss me off, and you will find yourself in South America when you least expect it."

"Baywatch, if you leave me in South America, so help me god…" She let the thought trail off, opening up a possible threat.

"Hey now, just don't piss me off. You know me, I don't get mad easy, Arty. But when I do…" I pointed at the bag on the floor, and she shook her head.

"You don't scare me."

I leaned in, and whispered in her ear "Oh yeah? You must be some sort of stupid."

She leaned away, and looked at me. "Wally, you don't know what I've been through."

"That doesn't matter. I know you don't fear pain, Artemis. That much is obvious. But what I can do to you isn't just pain. It's agony. Pure, unadulterated agony. However, I would like to know what you've been through."

"You would?" She asked, surprise etched into her face.

"I would. Only if you'll let me, of course." I responded, a shy smile starting to form.

"I don't know, Baywatch. I don't know if I can trust anyone that much. Not yet." 

I cupped her face with my hands, and looked deep into her eyes. "Artemis, I have time. I can wait, I'm not forcing you into anything you don't want."

"Oh really?"

"Okay, except maybe this."

"Wait, maybe wh-" I cut her off by pulling her face closer to mine and kissing her, tentatively at first, but much more passionately when she started kissing back. I pulled away, and looked at her, waiting for a response. Something, anything.

She had a dazed look in her eye that quickly left when I pulled away. She smiled warmly at me, which I returned with gusto. With that, I took her hand, and we walked out of the training room together.


End file.
